The present invention relates to a control device for wearable electronics devices and systems, that is to say, to an electronic device configured such as to be incorporated into conventional clothing, and designed so as to be comfortable for the user to wear. This comfort may arise through the avoidance of flat, rigid surfaces, but preferably comes from the use, so far as possible, of flexible parts conformable to the human body.
Examples of wearable electronics are given in the commonly-assigned UK patent application number 9927842.6 filed 26th November 1999 and entitled xe2x80x9cImproved Fabric Antennaxe2x80x9d, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,798,907 and 5,912,653.
For such electronic devices, control by conventional rotary knobs, slider potentiometers, and rocker switches is often inconvenient, and especially difficult when the wearable electronics device is intended for use by those having limited manual dexterity, whether through age or infirmity, or through the device being incorporated into outdoor winter garments, when the wearer is likely to be wearing gloves or mittens.
A particularly useful feature in wearable electronics is the ability to adjust performance in response to detected movements of the user. To this end, it is known to provide a fabric which has an electrical resistance which varies as a fabric is deformed: U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,235 (assigned to Asahi Kasei Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha) discloses a deformation sensitive electroconductive knitted or woven fabric. In the described fabric construction, the electroconductivity is changed when stretch or compression is applied to the fabric, and the provision of electrodes at two or more positions on the fabric allows the degree of deformation to be sensed electrically. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,235 relates mainly to the construction of the fabric; applications mentioned include a device for detecting stretch or flex in a joint of a human body or human respiration; as a finger switch mounted to lie along a finger portion of a glove and operable by flexing the finger; as a touch sensor on a window frame or hand rail to detect criminal entry; and as an industrial sensor to control a robot.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a control device for wearable electronics which is simple and intuitive in use, and which can be used by an impaired or gloved hand.
In accordance with the present invention there is provided a manual control for an electronic device which has control means to vary a variable of the device having at least one cord electrically connected to the control means, the cord having an electrical property which varies in accordance with the tension applied to the cord.
Also according to the invention, there is provided a garment for use with an electronic device which has a control means to vary a variable of the device, the garment comprising means to support the electronic device, at least one cord having a first end connected electrically to the control means, the cord having an electrical property which varies in accordance with the tension applied to a second end of the cord, and the control means being arranged to sense the electrical property of the cord and to vary the variable of the electrical device accordingly.
Further features and advantages of the present invention are defined in the attached claims or will become apparent from reading of the following description of embodiments of the present invention.